Folding stool and ladder



H. H, RUSSELL.

FOLDING STOOL AND LADDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY n, 1918.

1,333,344. Patented Mar. 9,1920.

' UNITED snares. PATENT OFFICE.

' HARRY H. RUSSELL, or! 203mm, MAINE,, A.S SIGNOR To THE E. T. Bcaaowns 1 COMPANY, or PORTLAND, MammalconPonATIon'oFfiv AmE.

" 'ronnmes'roor. ANDIADDERI Application-filed May 1?;1918: warm. 235,038.

To. all whamctmay concern .1 Be. it. known that I, HARRY H. 'RUSSELL, a citizen. of the Unitedv States-,. and resident 0t Portland, county of Cumberland, State.

. views.

This invention. relates. to. an. article 01": furniture. adapted: for optional. use. either as astool. to afiord a. standing areaor seat for the user, or as a short. step. ladder asres quired', with a capabilityof. being foldediup into very compact form to be laid away when not in. use: Aprimeiobject of theinvention is.to provide; a. device. of this: kind that iscapable of being; instantly opened from a, folded condition, for'use. as a. stool.

orladder, and Whenso opened: is constructed and adapted. to assume. automatically-an as; sembled condition which it lSfhBld. rigid and. secure. against shaking or racking dis:- placement under the; weight of. the: user so thatnot only isthe structure actually made stronger, but: a feeling- 0fconfidence. is in.-

1 spired in the user and even ax. timid person standing on the seat: surface: of the: stool would. bev in. no: fear 0t falling; To. this end I provide means. whereby? the: ladder. element. as it swings into= operative; position with respect to the. top, is. automatically wedged into; special: receiva'ngrseats r sock;- ets-of thetop to impart stifi'ness and' rigidity to the: structure. while. having a. capability of" instant. and. free releasewhen the: ladder is: to be: folded up. 1he:invention: also. has to dowith improved means: for holding; the ladder element securely braced. and rigid with respect both to thet0p= or seat. and: to a rearleg element whiclrisxoperatively con: nected' thereto; The: invention also. consists in providing for the seating of anangular extremity of theladder'eleinent ina. socket or recess in the top correspondingly shaped to fit the same whereby theparts are mutually interbr-aced andstifi'ened in use. The foregoing and other objects and; advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description, and the distinctivefeatures of novelty will be pointed out in the appended claims.

. Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 shows in side elevation. a cornbinaitiona. stool andv ladder formed in accordance with my invention set up inqpositio'n foruse; a Fig; 2-is an elevation showing the samev foa'ldedorcollapsed;

Fig; 3 is an enlarged sectional detail on Sp fi on o L t e 'r ,Patented M ar. 9, 1920.,

line 3.-,3 of Fig. l.showing-Iny improved co-. I

operativeiformationof the top and the ladder element-,which is hinged to'fit into the and;

Figa' lxisa sectional detailon line Hofcatedat 10', and is of a'size to aflfordacon venienti. standing. area or seat as the case correspondingly shaped recess I in: the top;

may" be when theidevice'is used as a stool andphas any desired peripheral outline;

though shownas octagonal'as this form affords aymaximum of seating-area without presenting, unduly: projecting corners; Ad; jacent the rear of. thisv top ischinged atxl'l: rean leg element 12. which is: usually. in practice madeup of spaced apart leg mem-zbensatosupport theoppositeisides of the top, suitably interbraced as is common. Towardthe firent. otthe: top; 10,. and: as shown, some a little distancein advance-of the: center of the top-isrpivoted as atil3k a ladder: element. 14a-,' .the; pivots 1:3.and. 11. being, parallel-., The portion. of. the'dtop 10 extending; in. front: of

of; this hand hold, it, will automatically swing into. folded; position. i. The" ladder :eler:

' the pivots. 1.3 isadapted' to serve/as le -5 extremitywequippedwitha hand hold, 10" so thatawhenthe device is picked up;by.n1ea-nsment; 14s is: preferably: made with spaced 1 apartfsides: is;usual having fixed therehe; tween" a series; shown. as two, of ladder steps: 15'. A. brace. orstrut element. '16 is,

pivoted to the-.legelement: at apoint 1.7: rel-a:

tivelylow down and remote from thetop l0 and is likewise pivoted to the-ladder element L l-at 18 relatively high up; and near tothestop. 10. Inpracticle, this" brace elenient. isxpreferably madeof" metal audit and itspivotupins areistrongand; capable of-re- I sisting bothtension and compression. strains; One of these. braces" on struts '16 {may of course be employed-at each; side of the ladderf" I It will be noted. that theside pieces-or rails of the ladder element 14 are of some little width with the hinges 13 at the inner top corners thereof and in accordance with my invention the tops of these rails or side pieces have their ends squared oif as seen at 19, or formed so that when the ladder eX- tends at a substantial incline, with the device set up for use as seen in Fig. 1, this squared ofi end withits corner 2U'oppos1te the corner where the hinge 13 is secured, ex-

tendsup into the plane of the top to a con- 7 siderable extent. These corner portions of the ladder rails'are beveled at theirsides as seen at 2 1, and also as shown at thefront thereof as seen at 21, and thetop is formed with correspondingly beveled sockets or recessed seats 22 into which the corners 20 are adapted to be pressed with a degree of wedging action as the ladder swings outward to operative position. Thus when the ladder is opened for use these projecting corner portions fitting and wedging tightlyinto the-seats therefor in the top make the entire structure rigid and strong to resist racking or twisting motion or looseness of any kind and give a feeling of security to the user who might be standing on the platform or top 10, whereas if the'tops of the ladder rails merely rested against the under surface of the platform 10, such platform if used to stand on would still have the racking or shaking tendency which has heretofore been a'universal attribute and objection to stools of this kind so far as known to me. It is to be further noted that while the ladder is thus rigidly and securely assembled with the top or platform in use,

a by reason of the fact that the swinging secure for use.

' recessmg the lad movement is about the pivot 13' which is close to the wedging parts and since the folding movement exerts initially a substantially straight pull of such-corners out of their wedge sockets, there is no danger of the wedging action in question at all interfering with the folding up movement of the device. As will be observed from Fig. 2 the parts can be instantly folded together to a very compact form with the rear legs alongside the ladder 14, and whenrequired forward strains from the hinges and otherwise relieves the same to a large degree and makes the device altogether much more stable and substantial than would be the case were the top 10 merely resting on the top of the ladder with aliinge connection, I preferably make the braces 16 straight and strong so that thereis no spring or yield thereto as would be the case with curved or angular braces. A bolt 25is shown as passed through the ladder near the end thereof 7, partly to cooperate for holding the leaf of the hinge assembled'therewith and partly to reinforce the top itself. The construction of the device maybe varied as to certain details without de artin from the spirit of the invention and I therefore desire the present embodiment do be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, referring rather to the appended claims to indicate the scope of the invention. 7 a f Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: a c- 1. A folding stool and ladder, comprising a top constituting a platform or seat, a" rear leg member hinged to the top adjacent the rear thereof, a ladder member hinged to the top toward the front thereof, and a brace pivoted to said rearleg member relatively remote from its hinge and pivoted to said ladder member relativelynear its hinge, said ladder member having side rails presenting relatively wide top portions with the'hinge connection to the top at the inner edges thereof and presenting beveled corners extending within-the plane of said: top when in inclined operative position, and said top having bevel walled recesses into which the beveled corners of said ladder side rails'fit and are pressed home with a lever action by 7' weight resting on said platform tohold said top platform against racking or shaking movement and support the hinge against forward strain. 7

2. A folding stool and ladder, comprising a top constituting a platform or seat, a leg 7 member hinged adjacent the rear thereof, a ladder member engaged therewith by hinges toward the front thereof, a brace pivoted to said leg member relatively low down and far from its hinge and pivoted to said ladder member relatively high up and near its hinge, said parts being formed and arranged to present said ladder member in substantially inclined position and said leg member relatively near the vertical when supporting the top horizontally, said ladder member having side rails presenting relatively wide top portions with corners projecting up into the plane of the top when the top is in horizontal operative position, said corners beveled laterally, and said top having r cesses formed to receive said projecting corner portions with a wedging action whereby the device is held against racking or shaking movement.

3. A folding stool and ladder, comprising a top constituting a platform or seat, a rear leg hinged toward the'back of said top, a

ladder element hinged toward the front of said top, and abrace pivoted to said rearleg and to said ladder element at difi'erentdistances from the hinges thereof, said parts being formed and arranged for said ladder element to support said top horizontally while being itself substantially inclined outward and with said rear leg relatively near the vertical, said ladder element having its top end squared off with its hinge connection to the top at the inner side thereof whereby it presents a corner projecting up; into the top when in operative position, said corner having its sides beveled adjacent said hinges, and said top being recessed and presenting walls adapted to receive said beveled corners with a wedging action and serving as diagonal abutments to resist forward strains.

4. A folding stool and ladder, comprising a top constituting a platform or seat, and a ladder pivoted thereto and equipped with means for holding it either in operative po sition or in a'folded inoperative position,

said ladder having side rails presenting corners extending up into said top when inoperative position, said top having recesses to receive said corners, and said corners and recesses being cooperatively formed and arranged with respect to said pivot to cause said corners to wedge into said recesses when said ladder is in operative position.

5. A folding stool and ladder, comprising a top constituting a seat, a rear leg hinged toward the back of said top, a laddereleinent hinged toward the front'of said top,

and a brace pivoted to said rear leg and to said ladder element at different distances from the hinges thereof, said parts being formed and arranged for said ladder element to support said top horizontally Whilebeing itself substantially inclined outward and with said rear leg relatively near the vertical, said ladder element having its top end squared off with its hinge connection to the top at the inner side thereof, whereby it presents a corner projecting up into the top when in operative position, and said top being recessed to receive said pro ecting corner and presenting walls fitting the same, and serving as diagonal abutments adjacent said hinges to resist forward strains, said squared off top of the ladder element vbeing automatically pressed home into said top seat by pressure on said top seat. In'testimony whereof I have name to this specification.-

HARRY H. RUSSELL.

signed m 

